Chauri Chaura is a town near Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The town is famous for an event that took place 4 February 1922 during British rule when a police chowki ( (station) was set on fire by angry citizens, killing 23 policemen inside.
The incident
On February 4, 1922, approximately two thousand protesters gathered to picket the liquor shop at the local market in Chauri Chaura. Armed police were dispatched to control the situation while the crowd marched toward the market and started shouting anti-government slogans. In an attempt to frighten and disperse the crowd, the police fired warning shots into the air but this only agitated the crowd who began pelting the police with stones. With the situation getting out of control, the sub inspector ordered the police to open fire on the advancing crowd, killing three and wounding several others. Reports vary on the reason for the police retreat with some claiming that the police ran out of ammunition while others claim that fear of the crowd's unexpectedly courageous and angry reaction to the gunfire were the cause but whatever the case, in the ensuing chaos, the heavily outnumbered police fell back to the shelter of the police chowki while the angry mob advanced. Infuriated, the crowd took revenge by setting the chowki ablaze, killing the 23 officers trapped inside.
Aftermath
In response to the police killings the British authorities declared martial law in and around Chauri Chaura. Several raids were conducted and hundreds of people were arrested.
Appalled at the carnage, Gandhi went on a five-day fast as penance for what he perceived as his culpability in the bloodshed. In reflection, Gandhi felt that he had acted too hastily in encouraging people to revolt against the British Raj without sufficiently emphasizing the importance of ahimsa (non-violence) and without adequately training the people to exercise restraint in the face of attack. He decided that the Indian people were ill-prepared and not yet ready to do what was needed to achieve independence. As a direct result of Chauri Chaura he and the Indian National Congress called for an end to the Non-cooperation movement.
Chauri Chaura – a Historic Town
Ashwani Dubey , an active Philatelist from Gorakhpur has been doing lot of efforts for the issuance of a postage stamp by India Post on historic place of Chauri Chaura by posting several post cards and speed post letters to philatelists and eminent personalities all over the country from Chauri Chaura Post office regularly . He feels that this historic town will get a place on Indian stamps someday by his campaign !!
